4928.20
Local aggregation of retail electric loads - limitations.

(A)
The legislative authority of a municipal corporation may adopt an ordinance, or
the board of township trustees of a township or the board of county
commissioners of a county may adopt a resolution, under which, on or after the
starting date of competitive retail electric service, it may aggregate in
accordance with this section the retail electrical loads located, respectively,
within the municipal corporation, township, or unincorporated area of the
county and, for that purpose, may enter into service agreements to facilitate
for those loads the sale and purchase of electricity. The legislative authority
or board also may exercise such authority jointly with any other such
legislative authority or board. For customers that are not mercantile
customers, an ordinance or resolution under this division shall specify whether
the aggregation will occur only with the prior, affirmative consent of each
person owning, occupying, controlling, or using an electric load center
proposed to be aggregated or will occur automatically for all such persons
pursuant to the opt-out requirements of division (D) of this section. The
aggregation of mercantile customers shall occur only with the prior,
affirmative consent of each such person owning, occupying, controlling, or
using an electric load center proposed to be aggregated. Nothing in this
division, however, authorizes the aggregation of the retail electric loads of
an electric load center, as defined in section 4933.81 of the Revised Code,
that is located in the certified territory of a nonprofit electric supplier
under sections 4933.81 to 4933.90 of the Revised Code or an electric load
center served by transmission or distribution facilities of a municipal
electric utility.

(B)
If an ordinance or resolution adopted under
division (A) of this section specifies that aggregation of customers that are
not mercantile customers will occur automatically as described in that
division, the ordinance or resolution shall direct the board of elections to
submit the question of the authority to aggregate to the electors of the
respective municipal corporation, township, or unincorporated area of a county
at a special election on the day of the next primary or general election in the
municipal corporation, township, or county. The legislative authority or board
shall certify a copy of the ordinance or resolution to the board of elections
not less than ninety days before the day of the special election. No ordinance
or resolution adopted under division (A) of this section that provides for an
election under this division shall take effect unless approved by a majority of
the electors voting upon the ordinance or resolution at the election held
pursuant to this division.

(C)
Upon the applicable requisite authority under divisions (A) and (B) of this
section, the legislative authority or board shall develop a plan of operation
and governance for the aggregation program so authorized. Before adopting a
plan under this division, the legislative authority or board shall hold at
least two public hearings on the plan. Before the first hearing, the
legislative authority or board shall publish notice of the hearings once a week
for two consecutive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation in the
jurisdiction or as provided in section 7.16 of the Revised Code. The notice
shall summarize the plan and state the date, time, and location of each
hearing.

(D)
No legislative authority or board, pursuant to an
ordinance or resolution under divisions (A) and (B) of this section that
provides for automatic aggregation of customers that are not mercantile
customers as described in division (A) of this section, shall aggregate the
electrical load of any electric load center located within its jurisdiction
unless it in advance clearly discloses to the person owning, occupying,
controlling, or using the load center that the person will be enrolled
automatically in the aggregation program and will remain so enrolled unless the
person affirmatively elects by a stated procedure not to be so enrolled. The
disclosure shall state prominently the rates, charges, and other terms and
conditions of enrollment. The stated procedure shall allow any person enrolled
in the aggregation program the opportunity to opt out of the program every
three years, without paying a switching fee. Any such person that opts out
before the commencement of the aggregation program pursuant to the stated
procedure shall default to the standard service offer provided under section
4928.14 or division (D) of section 4928.35 of the Revised Code until the person
chooses an alternative supplier.

(E)

(1)
With respect to a governmental aggregation for a municipal corporation that is
authorized pursuant to divisions (A) to (D) of this section, resolutions may be
proposed by initiative or referendum petitions in accordance with sections
731.28 to 731.41 of the Revised Code.

(2)
With respect to a governmental aggregation for a township or the unincorporated
area of a county, which aggregation is authorized pursuant to divisions (A) to
(D) of this section, resolutions may be proposed by initiative or referendum
petitions in accordance with sections 731.28 to 731.40 of the Revised Code,
except that:

(a)
The
petitions shall be filed, respectively, with the township fiscal officer or the
board of county commissioners, who shall perform those duties imposed under
those sections upon the city auditor or village clerk.

(b)
The
petitions shall contain the signatures of not less than ten per cent of the
total number of electors in, respectively, the township or the unincorporated
area of the county who voted for the office of governor at the preceding
general election for that office in that area.

(F)
A
governmental aggregator under division (A) of this section is not a public
utility engaging in the wholesale purchase and resale of electricity, and
provision of the aggregated service is not a wholesale utility transaction. A
governmental aggregator shall be subject to supervision and regulation by the
public utilities commission only to the extent of any competitive retail
electric service it provides and commission authority under this
chapter.

(G)
This section does not apply in the case of a
municipal corporation that supplies such aggregated service to electric load
centers to which its municipal electric utility also supplies a noncompetitive
retail electric service through transmission or distribution facilities the
utility singly or jointly owns or operates.

(H)
A
governmental aggregator shall not include in its aggregation the accounts of
any of the following:

(1)
A customer
that has opted out of the aggregation;

(2)
A
customer in contract with a certified electric services company;

(3)
A
customer that has a special contract with an electric distribution
utility;

(4)
A customer
that is not located within the governmental aggregator's governmental
boundaries;

(5)
Subject to
division (C) of section 4928.21 of the Revised Code, a customer who appears on
the "do not aggregate" list maintained under that section.

(I)
Customers that are part of a governmental aggregation under this section shall
be responsible only for such portion of a surcharge under section 4928.144 of
the Revised Code that is proportionate to the benefits, as determined by the
commission, that electric load centers within the jurisdiction of the
governmental aggregation as a group receive. The proportionate surcharge so
established shall apply to each customer of the governmental aggregation while
the customer is part of that aggregation. If a customer ceases being such a
customer, the otherwise applicable surcharge shall apply. Nothing in this
section shall result in less than full recovery by an electric distribution
utility of any surcharge authorized under section 4928.144 of the Revised Code.
Nothing in this section shall result in less than the full and timely
imposition, charging, collection, and adjustment by an electric distribution
utility, its assignee, or any collection agent, of the phase-in-recovery
charges authorized pursuant to a final financing order issued pursuant to
sections 4928.23 to 4928.2318 of the Revised Code.

(J)
On
behalf of the customers that are part of a governmental aggregation under this
section and by filing written notice with the public utilities commission, the
legislative authority that formed or is forming that governmental aggregation
may elect not to receive standby service within the meaning of division
(B)(2)(d) of section 4928.143 of the Revised Code from an electric distribution
utility in whose certified territory the governmental aggregation is located
and that operates under an approved electric security plan under that section.
Upon the filing of that notice, the electric distribution utility shall not
charge any such customer to whom competitive retail electric generation service
is provided by another supplier under the governmental aggregation for the
standby service. Any such consumer that returns to the utility for competitive
retail electric service shall pay the market price of power incurred by the
utility to serve that consumer plus any amount attributable to the utility's
cost of compliance with the renewable energy resource provisions of section
4928.64 of the Revised Code to serve the consumer. Such market price shall
include, but not be limited to, capacity and energy charges; all charges
associated with the provision of that power supply through the regional
transmission organization, including, but not limited to, transmission,
ancillary services, congestion, and settlement and administrative charges; and
all other costs incurred by the utility that are associated with the
procurement, provision, and administration of that power supply, as such costs
may be approved by the commission. The period of time during which the market
price and renewable energy resource amount shall be so assessed
on the consumer shall be from the time the consumer so returns to the electric
distribution utility until the expiration of the electric security plan.
However, if that period of time is expected to be more than two years, the
commission may reduce the time period to a period of not less than two
years.

(K)
The commission shall adopt rules to encourage and
promote large-scale governmental aggregation in this state. For that purpose,
the commission shall conduct an immediate review of any rules it has adopted
for the purpose of this section that are in effect on the effective date of the
amendment of this section by S.B. 221 of the 127th general assembly, July 31,
2008. Further, within the context of an electric security plan under section
4928.143 of the Revised Code, the commission shall consider the effect on
large-scale governmental aggregation of any nonbypassable generation charges,
however collected, that would be established under that plan, except any
nonbypassable generation charges that relate to any cost incurred by the
electric distribution utility, the deferral of which has been authorized by the
commission prior to the effective date of the amendment of this section by S.B.
221 of the 127th general assembly, July 31, 2008.